Killing Joke - Extremities Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

Killing Joke At Their Raging Best!!!

Mike | North Bergen, NJ | 05/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best Killing Joke cd in all their years as a vital presence in underground music. Extremities has everything that makes Killing Joke one of the best bands out there, especially the rage and frustration towards the world. It is perhaps their masterpiece, filled with all the right touches from beginning to end. Once the music kicks in, you know that Killing Joke mean serious business.

Jaz Coleman's voice has never been more solid than in this hourlong cd excursion into varied aggression. Many harsh emotions pour out from track to track about such issues as power and greed (Money Is Not Our God)as well as destruction and poverty (Age Of Greed). Coleman's lyrics have never been more passionate and sincere, reacting to the world's problems,"I fill hate...don't be afraid to show your hate".

There is a deep-seeded anger that can't be ignored, listening to Extremities. Raven's bass continues to line in sync with the rest of the band. Geordie's guitars are as fierce as ever, perfect timing. Martin Atkins, formerly of PIL, fills in the drums and pounds amazingly despite the reality that this is the only KJ album he is featured in. "Intravenous" and "Struggle" instantly come to mind.

Deep down, my favorites in this cd are the ones that blend the rage with Coleman's mellower vocals previously heard in 1000 Suns and Outside The Gate. "Solitude" is haunting, esoteric,and filled with desperation. "Slipstream" seems to be a lighter song about time and age, sung to the backdrop of fierce

instrumentation. "North Of The Border" has these great riffs, lyrics, everything, including a nails-on-a-chalkboard effect.

Extremities is a tough-as-nails, poignant, violent response to many things that were wrong with society, and could still be reactive to the current state of affairs in the world. The band were as honest, loose, completely free-willed in their convictions as ever when this cd first came out in 1990. Fifteen years later, it remains Killing Joke's magnum opus.It pretty much sums up everything you need to know about the band.

"

Goodbye synthesizers...

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 04/06/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After the slick, clean, synth-driven sounds on "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" and the disasterous release of the somewhat underrated "Outside the Gate", Killing Joke returned with the somewhat overrated "Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions". Paul Ferguson, unhappy with the band, had left, leaving vocalist Jaz Coleman and guitarist Geordie to figure it out-- they ended up being joined by old cohort Paul Raven on bass and industrial legend and former P.I.L. drummer Martin Atkins. This was probably in retrospect a mistake-- Atkins was another strong personality in a band dominated by the vision of Jaz Coleman. Its no wonder Coleman abdicated and Atkins kept the rest and put together the short-lived Murder, Inc. with all of these guys.

Nonetheless, this album documents their collaboration-- Coleman's focus has over the past couple albums drifted a bit closer to home,t his one seems largely about the evil's of society-- especially money, as so nicely illustrated by the two openers on the album, the powerful "Money Is Not Our God" and "Age of Greed". Gone are the synthesizers, the edgy guitars, and the smooth vocals, instead its raging and boiling like the old records-- Coleman wails on top of a distorted guitar wall. However, Atkins fills a different role-- he's a fine drummer, but he doesn't fall into the tribal or dance rhythms that dominated the early records, and with Raven largely falling in step rhythmically, this is a far less interesting band. The opening two tracks are great, but after that, its sort of an album of sludge industrial. Not that its particularly bad, but my expectations of Killing Joke are much higher than this, and without the usual level of noise and effects that a lot of industrial music carries, there's a lack of variety on the record as it passes from one heavy, loud song to another-- I'll grant that "Extremities" and "Inside the Termite Mound" are both great pieces, but outside those two and the opening pair, this one is somewhat formless metal. Maybe if it wasn't over an hour, it'd digest easier.

Nonetheless, there's enough great moments here to make me think reasonably of it, and if you come from a metal or industrial background, you'll probably love it."

Say what you will...this is one of KJ's best...

T.A. | South Florida | 12/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"MARTIN ATKINS. It wouldn't matter what kind of GUB was on this CD...it Martin played the drums, it's worth investing in. He creates the most incredible, undulating, MUSIC with merely a drum set, and sometimes a few other odd niose-makers (a rusty sink or old camera, as in some Pigface recordings). One thing holds true on all of KJ's discs--it's drum oriented, tribal, rhythmic chaos. They recruit a fantastic drummer for every disc (how about Dave Grohl on their new CD?) It was only a matter of time that they would run into England's most distinctive alternative drummer--Martin Atkins.

True, only the first two tracks and track 4 are legendary. The rest of the CD is like an odd Led Zeppelin tune: a rarely listened-to, John Bonham classic. I'm stunned by what some of the other reviewers have written! I have ALL their discs, adn I'm much happier chilling to this CD, rather than trudging through "Revelations" or "Fire Dances." Those are great CD's in their own classic sense, but song for song, if I was listening for 60+ minutes without skipping tracks, this one is at the top. There are even a few tracks I skip on "Pandemonium"...it gets too synth-ish at times.

There are some people who truly enjoy Atkins work...I am one of them, because I believe that a great, imaginative drummer puts the icing on the cake...he won't be with us forever--get this CD. The drums haven't been rendered this good in alternative music since, well--Pigface, Ministry, PiL,..."

Bleak and powerful

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 10/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Extremities... is the kind of album that you have to respect from a distance. of course, when compared with Killing Joke's first few releases, this doesn't match up. but there is a snarling sense of drive and purpose that cuts through these songs and the album, as a whole, has a wonderfully bleak atmosphere throughout it's running time. a dark grey soundscape of frustration and futile struggle."

Sing a Song of Disgust...

James Lopez | Los Angeles, CA USA | 10/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems it took many bad experiences, including problems with record companies, Jaz Coleman being on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and global politics in general, for the Joke to release this monster of an album. The title says it all, and it is, in my opinion, one of their best releases. This being said, however, I am going to start its evaluation by discussing some of its flaws. The first of these is that the album is marred by slightly excessive length for many of the songs; many, if not most, of these outstanding tunes should be at least slightly shorter, "the Beautiful Dead" being the most prominent example. The second flaw, which I actually feel is more important, is the production. The vocals and the drums seem to be given much greater treatment, in terms of volume and clarity, than the guitar, the keyboards and samples, and the bass. Of these three latter elements, the guitar is certainly the most prominent, but it is not given anything close to the prominence that is found on many of Killing Joke's other releases. Unfortunately, the bass and the synthesizers get too buried under the guitar and blend too well with it, which in turn is buried underneath the production of the drums and vocals. Despite all of these things, however, this album is not only musically great, as are most, if not all, of the band's releases, but it REALLY captures a genuine essence of disgust! Extremities... is kicked off with the famous "Money is Not Our God," a strong track and political number that makes a very effective intro. "Age of Greed" is another great song, and it serves as an effective transition from the first song to the remainder of the album, as it is finds itself somewhere between the raw energy of "Money is Not Our God" and the remainder of the album, which generally seems to get darker and more venomous as it progresses; also, unlike some of the other songs, its epic length does not detract from its greatness. "The Beautiful Dead" is a bit too long, but it is a nice, dark number with hypnotic keyboards and some great thrash thrown in for good measure! "Extremities" is a thrashy industrial number with some typical "Killing Joke melody" thrown in the middle-- present on this album, as with practically every one of their releases, is the dark, sarcastic melody that is a trademark of the band. "Intravenous" is ugly-- in a good way, that is, and venomous is the only word to "literally" describe it (musically and lyrically). The remaining tracks take a turn towards a somewhat darker atmosphere than the first half of the album (which is also dark), and they range from somber and beautiful ("Inside the Termite Mound" and "Solitude") to the mysterious "Kaliyuga" and the tribal, thrashy, Ministry-like number "Struggle"-- an effective closing, no doubt. Some complain about the drumming of Martin Atkins on this album. While his thrashing style is a bit different from that of big Paul Ferguson, it must be noted that it is an excellent performance nevertheless. Besides, there are moments, both tribal and dancy, in which Mr. Atkins's drumming bears many similarities to that of Big Paul. Extremities, Dirt, and Various Repressed Emotions is an excellent addition to Killing Joke's awesome catalogue of releases as well as a good example of what punk-influenced industrial rock sounded like at the time, and I strongly recommend owning it!"

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	Killing Joke Extremities, Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock Track Listings (11) - Disc #1 Money Is Not Our God Age Of Greed The Beautiful Dead Extremities Intravenous Inside The Termite Mound Solitude North Of The Border Slipstream Kaliyuga-Struggle Bonus Track 1
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